New MacBook Air may not arrive for almost a year – and its M2 chip could come with a surprise
Namely fewer cores than its predecessor – but it’ll still be more powerful, of course
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
Apple’s MacBook Air refreshwhich is rumored to be the first laptop with the new M2 chip, could be delayed until 2022.
The new rumor comes courtesy ofDigiTimes, which we should note is not always the most reliable source.
pic.twitter.com/Mcq05sXJbCJuly 8, 2021
The key points raised in the report are that the M2 chip could debut with the MacBook Air,as we’ve already heardfrom leaker Dylandkt, but that it has been delayed – possibly to early 2022 or beyond, meaning the new laptop and SoC might not be here until nearly a year from now (again echoing previous speculation).
TheM1X, a pepped-up version of the original M1 chip, will theoretically arrive with theredesigned MacBook Pro models later in 2021, again as per previous spinning from the rumor mill.
The M1X is expected to run with 10-cores – having 8 performance cores, and 2 power-efficient ones – compared to the M1’s 8-cores (with 4 performance, 4 power-efficient cores).
Core climbdown
Interestingly, DigiTimes asserts that the M2 will actually drop the core count from the M1X’s 10-cores, so perhaps scaling things back to the original 8-cores. However, because the M2 is set to be built on an entirely new architecture – supposedly based on the A15, thechip that’ll power the incoming iPhone 13– as well as using a 4nm process (rather than 5nm with the M1, and supposedly the M1X, though that should have an enhanced 5nm process), this means the M2 could potentially be clocked faster.
That would mean better overall performance than the M1X despite having fewer cores, because as we know, core count is far from everything (and the benefits of multiple cores very much vary from app to app). Naturally, the M2 would have to be more powerful than its predecessor, otherwise the chip wouldn’t make any sense, so it seemsApplemight be pushing forward with clocks rather than cores.
Get the best Black Friday deals direct to your inbox, plus news, reviews, and more.
Sign up to be the first to know about unmissable Black Friday deals on top tech, plus get all your favorite TechRadar content.
This report also falls in line with previous rumors in terms of suggesting that Apple could release an M1X-powered Mac mini alongside the new MacBook Pro models later this year.
Note that the DigiTimes report, which should be taken with a heap of salt anyway, seems to be slightly confused in that it also suggests the newMacBook Aircould be launched in the fall of 2021, contradicting the rest of the piece (unless this is a mistake, or something has been lost in translation).
So, take some extra caution on-board here, but a lot of this recent speculation is corroborated by previous leaks. Speaking of that previous speculation, a further detail not mentioned here is that theMacBook Air will come in iMac-like different color schemes, and we’re also expecting thereturn of MagSafe charging.
ViaWccftech
Darren is a freelancer writing news and features for TechRadar (and occasionally T3) across a broad range of computing topics including CPUs, GPUs, various other hardware, VPNs, antivirus and more. He has written about tech for the best part of three decades, and writes books in his spare time (his debut novel - ‘I Know What You Did Last Supper’ - was published by Hachette UK in 2013).
MacBook Air OLED reportedly delayed until at least 2028 – here’s why
Apple MacBook Pro 14-inch M4 (2024) review: one of the best Pro laptops around just got better
Another reason to avoid edge-lit 4K TVs: they may fail faster than others, according to this report
